NCFR is about catalyzing research, theory, and practice.  Every year at the annual conference, there are hundreds of presentations that demonstrate how research informs practice and teaching.

An integral part of helping scholars develop skills and expertise in their research is the annual Theory Construction and Research Methodology Workshop, as 2010 TCRM Chair Kevin Roy explains...
    
"TCRM hooked me on family science. I found my way to the workshop as a graduate student without a faculty mentor in the late 1990s, and for a few years, it was all that I knew about NCFR. It was this odd moment before the real conference.

These were not your typical conference paper panels, where everyone sat back and watched the show. They were interactive sessions, we all had the papers, and the papers themselves were living, growing documents, concerned with cutting edge debates, interesting new conceptual advances, and critiques of decades of received literature. I met scholars whose research I had read, who thought deeply about families, and who met in small informal groups to talk through these issues. And I was surprised that I was somehow welcomed into these discussions.

Although at times it may seem that the workshop is a selective gathering, it is not and should not be. TCRM draws a loyal crowd who come back each year because it is a special place, but it should be your special place as well. It is 40 years old this year [2010], which is a telling fact for longevity and unique contribution that such a workshop can make. But to remain vital to the vision of how families live in our society, TCRM must grow and change as well. It is a forum for discussion, and it feeds on new insights and provocative ideas from students and new professionals. As someone who is just barely past the new professional designation, I've tried to take seriously the mission of encouraging the next generation of theorists, researchers, and practitioners to participate in NCFR."

Kevin Roy, Ph.D., is an associate professor in the Family Science Department at the University of Maryland.